Irmo boys prove a team with many stars better than a team with one

Irmo coach Tim Whipple, who has won five state championships, understands about making kids reach their potential regardless of circumstances.

But coming into the 2015-16 season, Whipple encountered something he had never faced before. Devontae Shuler, a highly touted guard for the Yellow Jackets the past two seasons, decided to transfer to national power Oak Hill.

So Whipple attacked the situation the best way he knew how. The long-time coach decided before the first practice to not mention the loss of Shuler but instead focus on the players who would be playing.

Mission accomplished. Whipple has Irmo in the boys Class 4A finals for the eighth time Friday night where they will face Byrnes at 8:30 at Colonial Life Arena.

“I have had a lot of really good teams and not all of them have played for state championships,” Whipple said. “I don’t know if I had a team that has improved more from Day 1 until today.”

The two players that who faced the biggest impact from the loss of Shuler were guards Ta’Vonne Bond and Dre’Von Sweat. The two seniors had to pick up some of the scoring slack.

“Our roles didn’t change too much,” Bond said. “We just had to pick up the scoring a little bit and get everybody else involved.”

It was a struggle at first as the Yellow Jackets opened the season at 3-3. But since that time, Irmo (24-4) has won 21 of 22 games and is on the brink of joining the 2011 and 2013 teams as state champions this decade.

“We never addressed that (different roles),” he said. “You need to have a comfort level with the players. They have to do what they are capable of doing. I don’t know a single time this year I told Tavonne or Drevon you got to do more. I haven’t told them to do less either. I let them be themselves.”

It’s worked well. Usually one or the other leads the team in scoring but recently, 6-foot-6 RJ Gunn has become a force. The junior had 20 points and 10 rebounds in the lower state final against West Ashley to give the Yellow Jackets three players who can score any time.

“If we’re not having our best night, we know somebody else is going to step up and have a good night,” Bond said.

The two are still close to Shuler and usually text and talk to him every week. He’s happy for their success but maybe not as happy as Sweat and Bond are. They feel a lot of people across the state wrote them off before the season began.

The fact they’re playing for another championship shows they were more than a one-man show. Last year, they lost in the third round to eventual champion Sumter.

“We take it personal because everyone counted us out, basically everyone wanted to play us because they thought they could beat us,” Sweat said. “The fact we did it without him (Shuler) and got here feels way better. We get more credit for it. If he was here, he would be getting all the credit.”

This story was originally published March 3, 2016 at 11:20 PM with the headline "Irmo boys prove a team with many stars better than a team with one."